A/A Subtle Acting Hall of Fame

[Willowlicious]

For those of you, who like I, think Alyson Hannigan and/or Amber Benson are wildly gifted actors: What, if any, are your favorite Aly or Amber SUBTLE acting moments. Not necessarily the ones you think were cute or made you laugh or cry, but the ones that struck you as "real." The tiny little moments that you're sure everyone else missed, but had you clicking the reverse button on the VCR 50x, saying, "Damn, she's GOOD!"

A few moments from my Aly/Willow Subtle Acting Hall of Fame are:

1. When Willow comes out to Buffy in New Moon Rising, she says, "It's complicated because of Tara." Buffy takes a moment to get it, but when she finally puts on her "Eureka!" expression, Willow lifts her eyebrows ever so slightly and looks off to the side. It's kind of a "Well, now you know," expression that shows fear, relief and resignation all at once. Volumey subtext!

2. Way back in whatever episode Willow catches Xander and Cordy kissing, she lets Xander have it in the hall. She's all pissed at him and then, suddenly, her eyes get heavy with pain as she says, "No, it means you'd rather be with someone you hate than be with me." Aly takes Willow from childish rage to genuine, adult devastation in the literal blink of an eye. Brilliant!

3. In Hush, Tara affirms Willow's innate specialness with a simple but effective, "No, you are." Willow takes a careful breath and quickly looks Tara up and down with a sweet awe. You could tell her heart skipped. To me, it was her first, subtle, involuntary pang for Tara. Again, brilliant!

4. When W/T quarrel in Tough Love, Willow delivers her "head on back to Boystown" speech. Off Tara's look, she then makes her tone slightly more pointed in saying, "You think that?" To me that said, "I was just kinda being bitchy with that Boystown comment, but now that I see your expression, I really AM pissed at you!" Just liked the the way Aly delivered that line. Silly me.

My Amber/Tara moments will come tomorrow!

[This message has been edited by Willowlicious (edited March 21, 2002).]

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[reposty]

You'd definitely have to throw... well, pretty much all of tonight's episode in there. So much was done without words, and we've talked about a lot of it on other threads, but I'll touch on one area we haven't mentioned as much.

Tonight Aly had to have Willow come out all over again, but at an accelerated pace. I don't blame Willow for thinking Xander was her boyfriend at first. She did have his jacket on, after all, and besides that meant we got to see the above-mentioned re-coming-out. Tara, on the other hand, seems to have figured out that (a) she was gay, and (b) she was attracted to Willow, in very short order - but she never said a word about it. The only way we could see what she was going through was from Amber's expressions.

Pretty nifty, if you ask me.

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Remember the Kitten Board Mantra: "Joss is nuts about Tara, Willow/Tara and Amber!"

"...while i'm here, can I just echo what that other guy said? I think it went something like this: Amber Benson.... Amber Benson..." - Joss Whedon, November 6 2001

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[reposty]

The best was from Family when Tara tells her father "Just go." Completely dead eyes. Completely closed. Done. It was great.

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[reposty]

My own favorite subtle Alyson Hannigan acting moment is in "Doppelgangland" during the Vampwillow (dressed as Willow and locked in the book cage) and Cordelia--

Cordelia: Is there something on my neck?
VampWillow: Not yet.

Both the inflection of Vampwillow's reply and the "I-just-can't-wait-to-chomp-on-you" look on her face tell us (without giving Cordy a clue!!) that we're dealing with a ravenously hungry demon.

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[reposty]

Maybe its just because Tabula Rasa is so fresh on my mind, but I can think of "stand out" subtle moment for both that had a "thump-me-on-the-head" impact on yours truly:
S
P
O
I
L
E
R

F
O
R

T
R...Just To Be Safe....

Tara: The totally enraptured look on her face, even in profile, when her and Willow are about to kiss in the Tunnel. The way she was delicately playing with a single lock of Willow's hair...The moment was ELECTRIC.

Willow: The utter despair on her face as she sat on the floor in the bathroom with Tara packing to leave her in the next room. Unable to speak; knowing there was nothing she could say...we all know noboby can cry like Aly, but damn! I think its was the barely visable quivering of her chin that got to me the most. Her face said it all.

These Young Women Are Really Speacial.

The Junky...thanks for a great topic!

[This message has been edited by RomanceJunky (edited November 14, 2001).]

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[reposty]

I love them in New moon rising

when Willow was in Tara room and they talking about Oz's came back

Tara: It's okay.
Willow: It's not okay. I mean, Tara, the time we spend together is...
Tara: What?
Willow: I don't know. It's just - life was starting to get so good again, and you're a big part of that. And here comes the thing I wanted most of all. And I don't know what to do. I want to know. But I don't.
Tara: Do what makes you h-h-happy.

I just love Amber's expression whe she said " What? " It's like " What?What we have?Willow just tell me.If you feel it too " And all that hurts,confusions and love combined into one word.
Hmmmmm....what a great scene.

And all through the Brain-suck times.A/A did really great.We can even still feeling their hurt and sorrow until these days.

Hell! I could go on and on.

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Willow: Oh I'm not ... I don't have much in the way of power. really, I mean most of my potions come out soup. Besides... spells going awry, friends in danger...I'm definitely nothing special.
Tara: No, you are.

It's okay. I can do this. I'm gonna take care of her. Even if she never... She's my girl. ~ Willow ~

*spread beneath my willow tree* ~Tara~

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[reposty]

Okay - I posted a request to see if I could borrow the posts from this board and put vid clips of them up on my site. I haven't heard back from anyone, but I played around over the weekend and came up with the following page. I'd really appreciate it if the previous posters can take a look and see if they like it - if so, please let me know and I will put up a link to it from the main part of my site so everyone can check it out whenever they're at the site. If you don't want your post there please let me know and I'll remove it. If you have other moments, I can add them to the page.

The link directly to the page is: http://www.kingproduction.net/subtle.html

Feedback please - Thanks

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Mega Willow and Tara site:
www.kingproduction.net/buffy.html
Enlightened Member #243, BHS Member #70, Fragile member #308
"Nothing I can do, you took my soul with you." AB OMWF
"Suffer for the Tomato" Alyson (AOL)
"I love playing with Jello. I like to squish it up in my teeth and smile at people." Alyson

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[reposty]

quote:

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Originally posted by Shaniezak:
My vote still has to go to the confrontation with Glory on the park bench in "Tough Love." And oh, that moment where she clenches her jaw and refuses to tell Glory who the Key is . . .

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Yes yes friggin' yes! I loved that scene. Amber said so much by saying...well, nothing. Perfect. One of my favourites. A defining moment.

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"Welcome to the nancy tribe."

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[reposty]

Looks very nice AmberBensonFan, but I think you should credit the Kitten Board, I do not see that.

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[postalot]

AmberBensonFan you can use my post on your site if you want.

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[postalot]

Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya are in Willow's dorm room, Tara has just returned after looking for Willow's sweater and Xander's hand is hurt because he knocked it through a wall in frustration. The scene goes like this :

quote:

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Anya gets them, applies a couple after Xander rinses off the wound.

Tara turns meanwhile to Willow.

TARA
I couldn't find it.

WILLOW
It doesn't matter.

Her attitude is different -- Xander's slight crisis has both relieved and focused them all.

WILLOW (cont'd)
We should get there.

TARA
Yes.

WILLOW
I wanna be there for Buffy.

Tara smiles reassuringly at her. Squeezes her hand.

XANDER
You're right. Avengers got to get
with the assembling.

As he speaks, Willow mouths soundlessly at Tara: "I love you".

---

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Edited by: xita  at: 4/8/02 7:47:34 pm

[postalot]

::macks self upside head::: Doh!! What a bad lesbian/BtVs-W/T-fan I am. Not only did I not catch that the first 18-million times I've watched this ep but even after it was pretty much spelled out for me I had to watch it twice to just catch. Wonderful eyes on everyone elses part :-) Okay, this clip really has to go up on the subtle clips page. Wow! How sweet that was.

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Mega Willow and Tara site:
www.kingproduction.net/buffy.html
Enlightened Member #243, BHS Member #70, Fragile member #308
"Nothing I can do, you took my soul with you." AB OMWF
"Suffer for the Tomato" Alyson (AOL)
"I love playing with Jello. I like to squish it up in my teeth and smile at people." Alyson

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[postalot]

Oh, man...there are so, so many. The mouthed "I Love You" is one of my favorites. As is Willow's realization of why Angel lost his soul again and her "Giles, shut up" in Innocence. So very many wonderful moments in NMR on both Amber and Aly's parts. Tara realizing what the flower means. Both actresses are so wonderful, with both the big stuff and the subtle little touches.

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Tracy

Hear that Baby? You're my always.

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[postalot]

Okay, another one of my long posts ;-)

I think what endeared me most to the watching the show in the first place was how well the W/T relationship was being handled - not so much by Joss (though he did a masterful job) but more by Alyson and Amber. Being a lesbian I can often be seen hunting high and low for films and tv shows that have lesbians in them. I'm usually very disappointed though. You can tell that at least one of the actresses is always straight because they just "go through the motions" and there's never any connection there - even on shows or films that the relationship is supposed to have a deep bond.

BtVS with the W/T is very different It was the subtle moments, the little things, that really drawns you in - whether you realize it or not.

It's whenever they hold hands they rub their thumbs over each other. When they talk, Willow seems to look at Tara's eyes as though she's looking into her soul and Tara always looks at Willow like she is the light of her life. The little things like in OMWF, even though a regular fan would just go on enjoying the scene, you can still catch Tara/Amber with her arm around Willow/Tara at the Magic Box early in the ep.

I guess to sum it all up, it's the NATURAL things that these actresses have picked up on and throw into their characters that gives them life, charm, and their endearing qualities. They encompass all that we've ever dreamed we could have in a realationship (present situation not counting ;-)) but have also realized that, unlike other "hollywood" relationships, this one is real and it gives us all hope that one day we too could find our Tara to our Willow or our Willow to our Tara.

:-)

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Mega Willow and Tara site:
www.kingproduction.net/buffy.html
Enlightened Member #243, BHS Member #70, Fragile member #308
"Nothing I can do, you took my soul with you." AB OMWF
"Suffer for the Tomato" Alyson (AOL)
"I love playing with Jello. I like to squish it up in my teeth and smile at people." Alyson

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[postalot]

I keep reading this thread and trying to come up with my own list, but it's so hard...there are just so many great moments! But I wanted to comment on this--

quote:

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Originally posted by xita:
Ambers stunning range of disappointment after she tries to give Willow the doll's eye crystal. Brilliant.

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Man, you said it. As much as I love the way Tara has grown in the past 2 years, sometimes I really miss the terribly shy girl we first met in S4, and a lot of that has to do with the myriad of expressions that would play across Amber's face in those early scenes. The doll's eye crystal scene from TIIT has always been one of my favorites for that. For some reason I really love the little look to the side when she stutters on "Another t-time." She is so disgusted with herself at that moment that she can't even bear her own presence. And then the way that she stands up to leave but somehow remains completely folded in on herself. Brilliant, indeed.

[This message has been edited by Dazey (edited November 26, 2001).]

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[postalot]

I have to go with the end of "hush" what amazes me the most is that at that point neither Aly or Amber knew that W/T would become a couple, yet the chemistry was palpable. When Willow says "I'm nothing special" Tara answers "No you are" Fixing her gaze, staring directly into willow's eyes before shyly smiling and looking down again and Willow's intake of breath and looking at Tara sort of up and down,smiling give this feeling that she's thinking "hey where did you come from?"

Another amazingly subtle and sweet moment was in "superstar" B/W/T are walking through campus when Tara says "this is my exit" they look into each other's eyes and hold hands lightly almost just brushing them, they squeeze their fingers for a nano-second before saying good-bye, you could totally feel that they didn't want to part or that they really wanted to kiss each other good-bye. Btw if you want to use this post you may.

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"Eat lot's of applesauce, preferably fed to you by attractive young lesbians." Amber Benson

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[postalot]

Gee, Dazey, just when I was all pissed at you for calling out a spelling error of mine in another thread, you go and point out one of my favorite Tara moments! I, too, love the way Amber delivers the line, "I think if they saw a witch they would run the other way." A very realistic reading of a goofy line, indeed. I thought it was only me who found it so damn endearing.

BTW, I'm kidding about being pissed...I majored in English, so I have no excuse for such a glaring error. Just being in a hurry and not paying attention. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

Amy

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[postalot]

Ok,just to praise her.
Last night ep. Gotta say " HANNIGAN AND GOD!! HANNIGAN!!! "
( I wish I could give a half of that good performance in my Drama class. )

When she's begging for help,I was like...crying.
And I love her on that ceiling,um..might be her tummy that seduced me.

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Willow: Oh I'm not ... I don't have much in the way of power. really, I mean most of my potions come out soup. Besides... spells going awry, friends in danger...I'm definitely nothing special.
Tara: No, you are.

It's okay. I can do this. I'm gonna take care of her. Even if she never... She's my girl. ~ Willow ~

*spread beneath my willow tree* ~Tara~

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[postalot]

quote:

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Originally posted by april:
but sigh, what i wouldn't give for everyone to learn the difference between "your" and "you're"...

okay, i'm so OT it's not even funny, so i'll shut up.

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No don't...the whole "to" and "too" thing bothers me more than anyone will ever know...

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"Yeah, cheers, thanks a lot." ~ Patsy Stone

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[repostalot]

quote:

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Originally posted by tommo:
No don't...the whole "to" and "too" thing bothers me more than anyone will ever know...

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...and I must add, the whole "its" and "it's" thing

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[repostalot]

Too april and Ruth, I realy dont see what you're problem is?

I see no problems with speling and grammer on this board, your seeing thinks that I'm not, its all good buy me

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[repostalot]

sigh. brian, i'm so sorry that the canadian education system has failed you in such an appalling manner. but then again, yours is the country that gave us celine dion, so i don't know why i would expect anything different.

(and woo hoo for my fellow grammar nazis!)

once upon a time, this thread had something to do with willow and tara...

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[repostalot]

That whole scene is just a beautiful thing from start to finish. All the emotions that are conveyed strictly through thier eyes and body language. Our very first real W/T moment...and what a powerful moment it was, in so many different ways...all without a single, solitary spoken word...amazing...absolutely amazing...

The Junky...I stand in awe

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[repostalot]

(ok, I sent this to april in an IM but xita and Ruth wanted me to post it here, cuz they too, are Celine Dion fans )

Listen april, I really don't appreciate what you said in your reply to my joke spelling and grammar post, you can insult my education, you can insult my country but I'll be dammed if I'll let you insult a national treasure like Celine Dion. You Americans think that you're so high and mighty but you're just jealous that you don't have a Celine Dion, just crack whores and nuts like Whitney and Mariah. Hell you even have Celine sing your patriotic songs, how pathetic is that?

Like Celine (picture me hitting my chest now), my heart will go onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn bathroom break nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn I need a drink nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, well you get the point, you better not take any other shots at Celine or else I'll start posting pics of her, do you really want that april?

[This message has been edited by Warduke (edited November 29, 2001).]

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[repostalot]

I was rewatching my S2 tapes, and was floored by the amount of subtle moments Aly had.

What sets her apart from the other actors (who are all great, by the way) is that she keeps acting even when the camera isn't focused on her. Some of her best acting is her reaction shots to things other characters do. For instance, in Surprise, just after she discovers about X/C, when Xander says he'll need Cordy for his "plan" she has the most heatbrocken look on her face.

Another scene I love is in "Lover's Walk", when drunk and heartbrocken Spike is crying on her shoulder, and she pats his knee going "there there". That line cracks me up every time. You can tell she's terrified, yet her innate Willowness compells her to say something comforting.

Also, going way back to S1's "the Witch", I really love that scene where Buffy tells Xander he is "totally, and completely one of the girls" in an echo of his insensitive line to Willow earlier on that she's "a guy". When Buffy utters the line, Willow gets a happy, kind of nasty little smirk- along with most of the audience.

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[repostalot]

So many great subtle moments that it's hard to remember them all. I don't think this one has been mentioned, but one that always struck me as sweet was when Willow got down on the floor with Tara in 'Family' after Tara apologized for the spell. For some reason it just really touched me that Willow didn't stand over her and look down at her. Instead, she got down on the floor with her because she was concerned and she wanted to be close to Tara. And even when Willow found out that she was a demon, she didn't move from that spot until Tara moved. For some reason, I just thought that spoke volumes about their closeness.

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"I have no plans to send Tara anywhere...As for Amber, even if she weren't going out with Willow, I think she's become a big part of the heart of the show." - Joss Whedon

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[repostalot]

HAHAHAHAHA

Ok, this will be my last post on this subject because we're taking over an A/A thread, and that's just wrong

Now that you know the power of "La Celine", don't mess with her anymore.

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[repostalot]

Joining the grammar and spelling discussion: I'd call myself a spelling nazi if I wasn't German which makes this less funny and well, I'm sure I'm constantly misspelling. Life goes on. Ob-la-di. Ob-la-da.

I agree with whoeveritwas about the "Hey" in Wrecked...Willow seemed almost angry when she first saw Tara. Maybe because she realized that Tara caught her red-handed.

Besides, every scene including pancakes seems to inspire A/A subtle acting...it's the antidrug!

The goodbye scene in "Jonathan Superstar" also sticks out to me, that was soo cute!

In NMR, the look Aly gives Amber when she says "Do what makes you h-h-h-happy"...god, that scene left me crying pathetically.

There's also this scene when Tara and Willow watch the star and Tara starts to talk about the hospital but realizes that Willow does not want to talk about it, so she changes the subject and talks about the constellations. It's wonderful to see how she succeeds in cheering Willow up and that look on Aly's face is just do adorable.

Also, the expression on Aly's face, when she says "I trust you" in "Who are you": it expresses more than only complete trust, it also shows her love and devotion to Tara although she might not have realized it yet.
Edited twice to make april happy.
Ala

[This message has been edited by aladdin (edited December 03, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by aladdin (edited December 03, 2001).]

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[repostalot]

In "The Body" when they are showing that flashback clip to the thanksgiving dinner and Willow's had too much nog, when Tara starts to say "She likes it when I..." Willow's expression, especially once Tara catches on that she shouldn't be saying this, is so cute. How to describe it is alluding me at the moment (perhaps because I'm not fully awake yet) but if anyone else has seen that moment hopefully you can help me out :-)

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Mega Willow and Tara site:
www.kingproduction.net/buffy.html
Enlightened Member #243, BHS Member #70, Fragile member #308
"Hey, Giles. Sharp wheels." - Will
"The rest of the car's nice too" - Tara

"Besides, when was there ever us two. You two were always the two who were the two. I'm the other one." - Yoko Factor

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[archivist]

Oh that was a fantastic scene AmberBensonFan. If there is someone here who has *not* seen that scene yet, they should run and go get this episode anyway they can and take no prisoners along the way.

Sometimes, actually quite often with Willow and Tara, words fail to do them justice. Their looks speak volumes. What I love about this scene is that it is our wonderfully shy Tara who is doing the oversharing and Willow is the one that stops her somewhat embarrassedly by squeezing her hand and giving her that look, which like Tara's expression is hard to describe. Such a wonderful sweet coupley moment that was.

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